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Bike808 twenty/twenty growlog for chumpz

Well, last year, i had a pretty successful grow, but an utter failure of a GLOG. I wasn't nearly as diligent with updates as i ought've been, and i never got good with the pictures while posting from my phone, which is downright pathetic. I have to confess, i was posting more on FB, i guess because it's so convenient to upload pictures whilst you're taking them. But, overall, the FB Pepper Ppl aren't as rad as THP Pepper Ppl, not by a mile. I guess there's lots of overlap, and lots of cool pepper ppl on FB that ain't here on THP, but there's just a zillion douches on FB and I'm sad to admit it, but the truth is.... FB turns me into a Douche, too.

One exception is a tiny and mostly inactive cabal of Scotch Bonnet Afficionados, populated by folks that are by and large great ppl, who promptly elected me as their Emperor (or maybe just their Mayor) so i sent then lots of cheap SFRBs and seeds and powder, all Scotch Bonnet stuff. It was fun.

But other than that, posting about Chiles on FB left me feeling unfulfilled. Posting on THP makes me happy, even if it seems to have slowed down.

There's a few variables involved with my 2020 grow that haven't been sorted out yet. I'm waiting on some specific seeds from generous THP Members, plus i gotta source some Guajillos locally. I need to figure out whether or not the City of Gloucester is going to sell our Community Garden to developers who plan to pave it so the residents of luxury apartments can park where Scotch Bonnets once grew. I need to convince my wife to not divorce me, and if she doesn't, i want to convince her to build more raised beds in the yard with me. If she does divorce me, i gotta convince her to let me keep the house, in which case i can plant every square inch of the yard, but if i gotta move, it will destroy my garden plans, for sure.

That kinda reads like I'm joking, and i guess it has a touch of jocularity, but alas, it's all based on truth. Paved parking lots replacing community gardens, marital strife, widespread uncertainty... There's trouble in paradise.

But, yeah, once i get a more realistic view of my square footage, I'll have a better plan in place as to what i intend to plant. I'm actually crystal-clear as to what i want to grow, but the quantity of plants repping each variety is kinda up in the air. . .

I've decided to grow slightly fewer plants altogether, but far fewer varieties, overall. I'm trying to keep it under two dozen types of peppers, and less than 150 plants. For obvious reasons, and also bc i barter lots of chiles to local eateries, i am pretty much obligated to grow tons of Yella Scotch Bonnets and Zapotec Jalapeños. This year, i don't plan on growing any Yella Scotch Bonnets other than TFMs. My Bonnet test panel determined that Dreadies are a tiny bit more delicious than TFMs, but my digital scale confirmed that my TFMs produced far more pods per plant, with the average pod size being far larger, plus the seeds just germinated more reliably and the plants grew more vigorously so, all around, the TFMs performed best for me, multiple years in a row...

So, here's the intended grow list, as of right now, as best as i can recall. I am sure I'm forgetting something, and I'm also sure that I'll end up changing my plans at some point. But, here's the list as of right now:

Chinense:
7Pot Brainstrain Red
7Pot Brainstrain Yellow
7Pot Primo (Red)
Aji Jobito
Bahama Goat
Bhut Orange Copenhagen (OR some weird Orange Super that came from (not)Red Brainstrain seeds that i got from JediSushi... Most likely, I'll grow both..?)
Big Black Mama
Jamaican Hot Chocolate
Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion
Naga Morich
Orange Habanero
Safi Red
TFM Scotch Bonnet
Yeller Fatalii

Annuums:
de Arbol
Guajillo
Jamaican Mushroom jawns
Mulatto
Pasilla Negra
Poblano
Serrano
Tien Tsin (?)
Zapotec Jalapeño

I've decided that i don't want to grow Baccatums this year bc i find them annoying to start indoors (sooooo xxxtra tall & leggy!) and annoying in my beds (soooooo vine-like and huge and prone to taking over) and annoyingly slow to ripen. But, even as i type this, i suspect I'm going to regret not growing any baccatums. So, maybe my resolve will weaken and I'll end up growing a few?

I also got a cool assortment of obscure (for a chump like me, anyway) pubescens seeds, from yet another very generous THP member. I'm actually scared to try to grow them, as i feel certain they'll fail in my Jersey climate. But i am fascinated by the idea, and the few Manzanos I've tried were among my favorites chiles of all time...

The idea is to grow more plants representing the usable "everyday" varieties, and fewer SuperHots. Yes, there are lots of Supers on my list, buy I'll be growing larger quantities of the annuums and hab-level chinense...and relatively few of each Super. I've found i like making big batches of sauce and jelly and powder when i can be more consistent with what chiles are being used, so having more pods of fewer varieties helps me plan consistent recipes better. (I made some killer sauce from all the shit i had left after using the Bonnets and Jalapeños before last frost. It was fantastic, but so frustrating that i could never replicate it in the future...)

I have got to remind myself that this hobby oughta be fun, so i can stop getting into my own head and just enjoy the grow instead. I had my best year so far last year, and my worst year the first year. So, if that trend continues, this year should be even better than my 2019 season...

Proposed timeline, just to keep me honest:
-all seeds started by February 15 (chinense by February 1)
-no more than 216 plants started to solo cup size
-find homes for culls before May 1
-plants all in the ground by May 1st, if the Almanac's final-frost date seems like it's gonna be accurate
-once i have true leaves on my seedlings, i WILL update this GLOG once a week, at minimum, until first-frost. Should i ever miss a week, i gotta do two posts the next week.

I guess i oughta spring for the premium membership, too, so i can upload pictures easily and reliably. Looking at this huge post, with no images, i realize that pics make or break a GLOG...

As always, thanks for reading. Unsolicited advice, impartial opinions, unwarranted heckling, and hassles are, of course, welcome. But i do rely on your support and encouragement to keep me growing and glogging properly.
-rob
 
Welcome to the 2020 glogosphere, Rob!

Two dozen varieties. One hundred and fifty plants.
Scaling back?

Sounds like you have thought things through
pretty thoroughly. Here’s to a banner season!
 
PaulG said:
Welcome to the 2020 glogosphere, Rob!

Two dozen varieties. One hundred and fifty plants.
Scaling back?

Sounds like you have thought things through
pretty thoroughly. Heres to a banner season!
Thank you for the earth welcome, Paul! Yeah, i know that 24 varieties and 150 plants seems like a whole lot, but last year, i grew something like 180, plus i gave two dozen of my best culls to a buddy, helped him tend the bed. He's a musician, and i got to harvest all of his shit, too, whilst he was on tour. So yeah, in scaling back, for sure. I know it was @180 plants, bit i didn't bother to count the varieties. Probably at least 50; there may have been like 180 different varieties, too!

I've definitely been obsessively planning the grow. Lots and lots of thinking and analysis, but not much "thinking THROUGH;" I'm a pretty fickle lil dumbass. I'll certainly be making changes right up until plant out, even if I'm resisting those urges.

kccellall said:
Those are some nice varieties cant wait to see the progress
Thanks, KC. I can't wait to start making progress. This will be my fourth year growing, so in still fairly green, and still learning a lot. I get the sense that growing is one of those activities that will always teach you new tricks and info no matter how long you've been growing, but it's easy to drown in all this new existence the first few years.

For anyone who cares, or who just wants to know what kind of garbage to expect from my GLOGS, here are the archives:


http://thehotpepper.com/topic/64120-bike808s-first-glog/?fromsearch=1

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/67312-bike808-2018-glog/?fromsearch=1

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/70444-bike808-getting-dirty-in-jersey/page-1
 
Mr.joe said:
Great introduction to your glog (even without pictures). I'll be following along to watch your 200 +/- plants grow.
Thanks. I figure if i get the premium membership, then i can just upload directly to THP, without any third-party picture hosting sites? And shit won't come out extra huge, or sideways, or tiny? That's how it works, right?

200 plants, might be fun, right? I never counted last year, but i started probably 275 or so, last year... Had tons of culls to give away.

sirex said:
Don't it seem to go that you don't know what you got till it's gone. They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot.

Took all the trees and put in a tree museum. Charge all the people a dollar and a half just to see em....

Every time i think about my lil community garden, i think about that song. Rumor has it that the community garden got a stay of execution, and will be around for the 2020 season. ️️️

PtMD989 said:
Glad to see ya back. [emoji16] Hopefully stuff works out in your favor regarding marital strife and the community garden. It seems like once or twice every month my wife wants me gone also. [emoji15]Best of luck.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yeah the wife and i are doing pretty well, today. Ups and downs. It's tough to judge. Hoping that getting busy with plants will provide a positive distraction, but sometimes these plants get on her nerves, too...

Thanks for the well-wishing, PtMD989; I'm giving it my all so things will go as well as fate will allow, i guess..

Uncle_Eccoli said:
Good luck, BikeMan!  Pulling for you all around.  Will be following along.   :cheers:
Thanks, Unc!


DownRiver said:
A man with a plan!
 
Nice lookin list Rob.
 
Best of luck in 2020!
 
 
 
 
(Orange Habs? :rolleyes: )
Yeah, it's good to have a plan, but i gotta stay flexible, too...

In defense of Orange Habs: those little fuckers are often maligned, but they are among the most popular chiles on Earth, and they were my gateway to the chinense skankiness and, arguably, the chile-life in general. Plus, homegrown orange Habs are vastly superior to the ones find at the market, and the plants are so hardy and productive, they make me feel like a super-farmer, even on an off-year.

I'll need to cut my grow down a while lot before i eliminate Orange Habs from my list, but I'll probably never grow more than 2 or 3 plants each year. I grow them for sentimental reasons, and for practical reasons... Never devote the same space to those as i do with Bonnets and such.

juanitos said:
list looks fine, goodluck with the external issues
 
if you had everything figured out you would just be bored, but yes got to remember to be grateful for peppers you have and just enjoy your time in the garden.
You're right that it might be boring without the challenge, but the cool thing about growing is that you can constantly raise your own expectations and keep the challenge alive, if you're so inclined, no matter how good you get..

Of course that's all theoretical, for me. I just ain't that good, yet.

Sorry if i over-shared and made things weird by mentioning marital issues, but it really is a factor in my grow. Plus, i guess normal couples avoid divorce bc they're like "what about the impact this will have on our children?" For me, the analog is "but, but... What about the garden??!?"

Thank you, everyone, for the words of encouragement and just for following my Glog. It really helps keep me focused on good growing principles, and the advice I've received here over the years is worth more to me than i can express...
Figured I'd throw up a link to this other part i just made; tryna switch to coir for the first stage of my grow this year, but i need some guidance.

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/73093-crash-course-on-growing-seedlings-in-coir/
 
Like the grow list .... Growing most if not all this year.  Love the Bonnets and have settled into the Boyd's and Freeports.  I always throw a new one in .... this year it's the Cappucinno. Migrating more and more from the super and very hots to the Jalas and some of the Eastern European/Mid east varieties.  Been married 34 years .... marital strife is a fact of life (especially in the growing/planning "off season").  Too busy for strife in the growing season  :rolleyes: .  
 
IMG_0042.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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